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“What happens if we can’t hold them back?”
“We get as many out in the tunnels and sewers as we can.And we fight to the last man.We can’t allow the Germans alone to pick the time and place of our deaths.”
They all stood slowly and shook hands, clapped each other on the backs, and began to disperse.
Jan tapped Walter.“We’ve got to go, Walter.”
Walter faced him, brow furrowed.“The fighting is about to start.”
“But if we stay, we’ll both die.We’re unarmed.We’re not prepared.And I promised Mama I would leave if fighting broke out.”
Walter’s countenance was stubborn.“I can’t leave.”
Jan nodded.“I understand.But I have to go now.”
“I’ll see you out.”
The two of them hurried through the various trapdoors and hallways they’d followed to get into the dining room, then down the stairs and out through the front door.The scent of smoke hit them before they reached the doorway, and the air thickened the moment they were outside.
Jan coughed and tugged a scarf from his neck to tie around his mouth and nose.The air was thick with smoke.The building across the road crackled as fire leapt from one story to the next.A black cloud billowed out across the road.
From the top floors, people leaned from windows, coughing and crying out.Someone jumped and landed with a thud on the street in front of them.
Jewish resistance fighters lobbed hand grenades and Molotov cocktails at the German troops from windows, adding to the fire and chaos.The Germans fought back, firing indiscriminately into the buildings as they hid behind their temporary fortifications.
Jan’s eyes widened in horror, and he took off at a run.As they barrelled through the ghetto, he saw German soldiers pulling women and children into the street from buildings and bunkers, beating and killing them, piling them up in big mounds of death.Every building was on fire.The stench of smoke made the air impossible to breathe.
An SS officer shouted at them to stop and fired a shotgun at their retreating backs.But Jan and Walter didn’t stop.They sped up, dodging and ducking around buildings and behind the charred remains of wagons and trucks.When they reached the wall, Jan spun about to face Walter.
“Come with me,” he beckoned.
With one last glance over his shoulder, Walter climbed the wall and leapt down to the other side with Jan.
“You can’t do anything to help them now.You’ll only get yourself killed,” Jan said.“Come on.Let’s go home.”
They turned their back on the flames leaping from building to building and took off at a run.By the time they reached home, Jan’s heart was heavy.Before they stepped inside to climb the stairs to the apartment, he turned to look back in the direction of the ghetto as he heaved for breath in the acrid air.The sky over the ghetto was bright as scarlet, and soot fell from the sky like blackened rain.
“That’s the end of it,” Walter said beside him, puffing hard.
It was clear the Germans meant to raze the entire ghetto to the ground as a punishment for the residents ignoring orders.
Jan shook his head.“I never imagined this.”
“I should’ve stayed.”
“Then you’d have died with them.”
Walter didn’t respond, but Jan understood what he was thinking.He knew his friend well.Walter had already lost his entire extended family.What was one more loss?
“I’m glad you didn’t stay,” said Jan, patting Walter on the shoulder.“Now, come on.Let’s get inside before anyone notices you.”
